Zillion Sins (#LifeLessons #SociaLMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

As new and new social media networks mushroomed for some reason or the other I got on to several of them, all the apps intact on my smartphone.

Now these have become a daily habit just like tea and Parle-G in the morning, but just like I can’t eat that for all my meals, I do keep checks and balances on my social media presence too.

If there is after life and there is an account of social media sins, I think my good deeds might still outweigh the zillion social media sins, I hope. How about you?

here is a complete list of all my A to Z Challenge Posts 2018

whY Youtuber ? (#Lifelessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Richa was happy that in Advik’s new school they were doing everything the multimedia way. Kids were encouraged to use the internet and online material. 

She’d boast to her friends and relatives living in smaller towns how Advik had almost given up writing and reading paper books and did almost everything online on his own.

Before Richa knew Advik’s dependence on online media had grown manifold, to understand anything he would just Google it and look for a video on Youtube for the same.

She looked at kids playing cricket downstairs while Advik sat watching a match on Youtube.

Here is a complete list of all my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Ex Excitement (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Ayaz had four serious relationships before he got engaged to Saina, his university bestie. She was a researcher, completely off social media and spent most nights at the lab. 

During one such sleepless night scrolling through old school and college groups he found Aima’s profile- his first girlfriend.

They weren’t in touch; she was in the Gulf now, married. Soon the conversations started. A few months later they met in Mumbai. He hadn’t told her that he was engaged and committed.

She told him her husband Ahmed was having an affair with his college junior some Dr. Saina in Mumbai!

Here is the complete list of my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Whataboutery Whatsapp Way (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

The first thing Shirin checked every morning was Whatsapp. There were dozens of messages waiting for her usually because she was a part of several groups in her housing society, her family, friends, extended family, old neighbors etc.

There was so much knowledge to be gathered there she felt, everything from home remedies to politics to social issues like “what can girls do not to get raped”! She would read some and without fail forward a few others without reading.

As Shirin was hospitalised after consuming a self-made home remedy for greying hair, her son deleted whatsapp from her phone.

here is a complete list of my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Viciousness of Viral (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Samrath was a tastemaker on social media, a leading freelance journalist and author, he was amongst the most influential people from India who introduced average users to interesting things and helped focus the minute-to-minute spotlight on a certain concept or happening.

His mom who was a school teacher back in their native place didn’t understand social media much.

The first time she heard, “Samrath had gone viral” , she thought it was some kind of disease you get from internet, many years later she was sure it was, it changed her son forever, all she saw on his profile was abuses and misogyny.

Here is a complete list of my A to Z Challenge post 2018

Unfollow, Unfriend, Unlove? (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Maya was reading an article online, “If you unfriend a person they become just like the other 999.99 million strangers who use Facebook.”

Do they? She asked herself. Kavya was her younger sister; they were so close and well-knit till their parents lived. Soon Kavya’s Radical political views became too much to handle, so Maya quietly unfollowed her.

But she would still tag her in those misogynist posts that Maya was against and finally had to unfriend when her repeated requests were not heeded.

What was the next step, Maya often wondered.

Was Unlove even an option that life offered?

here is a complete list of my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Trumped by Typos? (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

He was known for his vocal political stances and often controversial statements. The country was coming of age and with him at the helm of affairs they did not want an international embarrassment for sure.

So keeping public opinion in mind and the importance of how much social networking affected political destiny he appointed a Social Media Manager. The lady was a spell bee and a language aficionado.

To announce her appointment he tweeted : “In an unpresidented move the W.House has a new cheap of Social Media on bored.”

The most “unpresidented” president they ever had.


Here is a complete list of all my A to Z Challenge posts 2018.

Snapped via Snapchat (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia ) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Ever since Krisha had moved to Boston as a newlywed she learned to constantly use Snapchat during all her shopping sprees. Phone in hand, she would share where she was shopping, seek advice from friends, and share what she finally brought home, “latest” was the buzzword.

She was spending a lot more time and money for the sake of Snapchat buddies than she could afford, her husband Shrey was not too happy about it and they often had arguments about the finances.

A year later they were sitting in a divorce lawyer’s office and the debts had not stopped piling.

here is complete list of my A to Z challenge posts 2018

Rebel without a cause ? (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Sid was checking his feed; all his friends had marked themselves as attendees at the protest against the rising road rage cases in Delhi tomorrow at India Gate. It’s good fun, lots of photo opportunities and potential dates too.

Oh! He just checked the inbox, the time clashed with the protest against the recent rapes of children at Jantar Mantar, what to do now, difficult choices!! Uff!

So he decided he would just wait and watch wherever the crowds swing, meanwhile it was Ambedkar Jayanti or something so perfect time to use one of those social justice frames on his DP…

here is a complete list of all my A to Z Challenge Posts 2018

Queasiness of Quasi (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

It was their 20^th wedding anniversary Neelam had deactivated all her social media for the cruise with her husband Vijay. But she was no ordinary social media enthusiast, renowned writer, ace blogger, had a huge following and devoted coterie of her own ,so to say, on every platform.

It had been two days other than Skype calls to their teenage daughter back home she hadn’t check into any social media and FOMO* was gripping her every waking moment and dreams too.

No pictures posted, no tweets, no updates; she was feeling a strange queasiness, the queasiness of being quasi!

*FOMO- fear of missing out

here is a list of all my A to Z Challenge Posts 2018

Possessed by a Profile Picture (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Rashmi changed her profile picture every day. Throughout the day in the office, during her commute, while talking to her kids, while having dinner with her husband Nitin, while watching TV, while reading or having tea, she always clicked selfies and then chose the best to be the next day’s profile picture.

It was a usual summer day, already noon, Nitin noticed Rashmi hadn’t changed her profile picture. She was holidaying in Manali with the girl gang. He called no answer. Next day’s news : Delhi woman slips off a cliff clicking a picture, on the screen her last profile picture.

Here is a list of all my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Only Online? (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia ) #FlashFiction AtoZ

It was a Sunday morning, as she put the cuppa to brew Sehar as usual checked the facebook and twitter notifications, clicked the first #NoMakeupSelfie for Instagram.

Oh! She had completely forgotten about the lunch date she had from Tinder later today and also there was a Skype group call with her cousins about a family wedding scheduled for the evening.

Before 2004 or 2005 Sehar had a life, lived with a family, had real relationship, after that she had an online Avatar, flings, Inbox romances and still a decent offline life, now all she had was mostly online!

here is a complete list of my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Nailed to Notifications? (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Kartik had been a smartphone user for several years now; he always bought the latest model and used all the trendiest features and apps instantly.

Like everyone else he was using all kind of social media apps from dating ones to those that helped him shop online or just order food in a jiffy on late nights at office.

Even after he got married his phone seemed to be more of a constant companion than his wife Ritu, who had vociferously complained about this habit repeatedly. One morning she left leaving a note addressed to – Dear nailed to notifications!

Here is a complete list of my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Me or MEME (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Shauna was the ace programmer at her office. She was superb with software and was the centre of attention always. Off late the new guy in office Roberto was doing well too, and secretly Shauna felt threatened.

She friended him on all social networks and soon they were in a casual friendship. It was Roberto’s birthday, he was more drunk than usual and Shauna dropped him home, but not without clicking a few very drunk pictures.

Next morning Roberto's meme* was viral, he was an internet sensation about how not to celebrate your birthday. Shauna’s me before you was now a meme.

*an image, video, piece of text, etc., typically humorous in nature, that is copied and spread rapidly by Internet users, often with slight variations.

Here is a list of all my A to Z Challenge posts for 2018

Love as Like (#Lifelessons #SocialMedia #FlashFiction #AtoZ)

Bhavna loved etymology her research was about words and their origins; she now worked with Oxford as a language consultant in Delhi. Often she would see freshers constantly hooked to their phones and reading nothing.

Then she met Navin, 5 years her junior and a new colleague. Sparks flew and the romance swept her over, though it lasted only a few months but they still maintained they were friends.

The day she would click a like on his new DP she meant she missed him; he didn’t even care among the 1009 other likes. Many meanings drowned in a like.

here is a complete list of my A to Z posts 2018

Kindness or Klout (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Akriti told Vineet about Klout. Ever since, Vineet had become literally obsessed to make it the highest scoring Klout guy in his circles.

Influence as defined by klout was “the ability to drive action” and it defined that by measuring hundreds of signals from Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Wikipedia, and its own network.

Vineet had linked all his profiles, had huge lists on all platforms and realized that controversial/abusive content grabbed more “influence.”

Akriti had lost the “kind” friend she once had; he was now a ruthless Klouter with no kindness at all.

here is a complete list of all my post for A to Z challenge 2018

Just friends or Jettisoned (#LifeLessons #SocialMedia #FlashFiction #AtoZ)

Jane and Henry had been on each other’s friends/followers list on almost all social media platforms. They had grown up in the same small town and thus had lot of common friends and groups too.

Though several times over the years, they had also removed each other from the lists, over ideological differences. Jane was a socialist and Henry believed in capitalistic future.

They had even dated briefly but for the world were “just friends.” Jane opened her account and again found out Henry had blocked her. This must be about their debate last night, she felt *jettisoned from his life.

*cargo that has been thrown overboard

Here is a complete list of my A to Z posts 2018 .

Incidents of Instant (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #A2Z

Rewa had a brilliant stint at the ad agency she was working for. She would be moving to Europe after her marriage to Ahil in about a month’s time.

Shopping for the wedding was such fun for the last six months or so her new hash tag #WeddingInAMetro has become a sensation overnight and her Instagram followers jumped from a few thousands to about 50k instantly.

Today was the farewell at office, how could she not upload the pictures instantly. With one hand on the wheel and the other on her phone, in an instant her story changed for worse

Here is a complete list of all my A to Z Challenge 2018 posts.

Healing without Hashtags (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Sanaya loved everything about twitter. The constant chitter-chatter by tweeps, her own followers close to about 90k constantly kept her timeline abuzz.

In between breaks from her boring job as an orthodontist this 27 years old hottie was quite a twitter sensation. Her immense popularity also lay in coming up with the most creative hash tags like #DarlingDentist  , #IAmSoYesterdayToday that her “fans” awaited the next eagerly or so it seemed.

One June afternoon as Sanaya was counting the pills one last time, she decided #DeadDentist would be no good and deleted all the accounts, till she overcame her depression.

Here is a complete list of my A to Z Challenge posts 2018

Google doesn't have all the answers (#Lifelessons From #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

Sudha was introduced to Google in Middle school. She was a fan in no time, whether it was a school project or she had to look up a popular song her friends were humming she just opened Google on any gadget and the magic genie would find her answers and solutions.

Now Sudha was a mom to twins and still her screen addiction particularly to finding answers from Google still persisted. As the twins entered teenage she realized there was a huge communication gap between her and them. 

They were finding answers from Google too and not her,why she wondered?

Here is a complete list of all my posts for A to Z Challenge 2018.

Friends are not lists, lists are not friends. (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AtoZ

They had been facebook friends for ten years now; the friendversary video was simply wow! It had received about a 1k likes and 500 comments from both their lists that ran into thousands.

Both wrote heart-warming comments on each other’s pics, posts, wished dutifully on birthdays and wedding anniversaries with tagged posts and what not. But they had never met beyond inboxes.

Ruhi was in Delhi for the Fashion Week. Her SUV crossed a crowd around a hit and run near Pragati Maidan at 10 am. The next day’s newspaper said it was Ajit on his bike, her facebook friend.

Here is a complete list of my A to Z challenge posts 2018.

Emoticons are not Emotions (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AprilA2Z

She had just brought a smartphone with her first salary from the big showroom, but Radha was still not good at using it. 

Her colleague /childhood friend/neighbor Raman however was very good at technology. He helped her install all the apps and taught her how to use internet and data properly on it.

The most fascinating aspect to her was the emoticons, the animated ones that expressed every possible emotion. She was told by Raman how there was one for every human emotion. 

Every day she would keep staring at the red beating heart one, Raman never understood her love.

Here is a complete list of all my post of A to Z Challenge 2018.

Don't drown in Display. (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AprilA2Z

They had been married for almost three years now; they were both hugely popular on social media. He was even more because he was a famous public figure.

So along with his ideological and professional opinions posts about how family oriented he was and how devoted a son/brother/husband he was mattered a lot to his carefully crafted public image.

Being his spouse she too played along, saved her widest smiles for lovey-dovey couple pictures with him and perfect happy family ones for the ones with his family. All her angst about her loveless existence was drowned in his happy displays.

Here is a complete list of all my post of A to Z Challenge 2018.

Chat isn't Conversation (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AprilA2Z

His green light was always on. Always, on all platforms. The Messenger app on his latest I-phone kept constantly pinging with numerable messages from his long list of facebook friends.

He was in love with twitter too and tweeted on every trending word. Shaun was a social media champ for sure; his testimonials were his huge lists on all platforms.

His new job was trading bitcoins so that too was mostly online.  It was his 30^th birthday, tonnes of messages flooded his screen, the apartment was silent, and the stale vessels gaped at his loneliness.

He longed for a conversation.


Here is a complete list of my A to Z Challenge 2018 posts.

Be not become (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AprilA2Z

Disha had a long day at the bank today. March was full of overload. 

In an attempt to start on a new series of accounts next morning she had missed her chartered bus and was now on board a crowded DTC bus full of tired office-goers mostly like her.

As soon as she was lucky to grab a ladies’ seat, her phone pinged, Sudhir from the head office. They had been chatting on Whatsapp for a month now.

“So what’s up babe!”

“Tired, driving back to home.”

After a long pause -“J right behind you, last seat in the bus.”

Here is a full list of my A to Z Challenge 2018 posts.

Appearances are Deceptive (#LifeLessons from #SocialMedia) #FlashFiction #AprilA2Z

Sia had “met” Sid on a facebook group for singles, the profile was sketchy, no personal pictures but he explained it was because of his Army job and his rather messy on going divorce. 

The Whatsapp picture too was hazy and made him look like easily about 20 years older than her.

They chatted more and more intensely. Finally they met and to Sia’s surprise it was a handsome 40 years old, sober and sensible man, not the sex-obsessed freak oldie she had imagined him to be. The Whatsapp DP was definitely photoshopped. She had passed his test.


Here is a list of all my A to Z challenge 2018 posts